


kynein, to kiss

by thesnickettaxi



Category: A Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicket, All the Wrong Questions - Lemony Snicket
Genre: Kit is in love with all of them, Sugar Bowl Generation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:42:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25879126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesnickettaxi/pseuds/thesnickettaxi
Summary: the ancient greeks had eight words for love. kit could probably do with about fifty, but eight will do.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	1. storge - familiar love

i ) storge

bertrand is kit's first kiss, and she is his. they're both twelve, and kit has decided that she would like to kiss someone because beatrice kissed a boy in the diner last month and hasn't stopped talking about it since. she briefly considers asking frank, who is always fairly nice to her and certainly isn’t bad looking, but there’s too much risk of ernest finding out, which would lead to constant teasing about her having to ask someone for a kiss. plus, what if she mistook their identities and accidentally kissed ernest? she wasn’t great at telling them apart yet and he would never drop the subject if it happened. instead she turns to her closest friend (associate, she corrects herself forcibly). bertrand is less bothered about kissing and girls, though he’s reasonably curious about what all the fuss is about, so they pass coded notes in class and agree to meet afterwards and try it. 

it's a freezing cold midwinter day and their morning lessons seem to drag on for years and years. when eventually they're released, they slip out of a side door, wincing from the cold. for a while they just stand opposite each other with about a metre between them, awkwardly avoiding eye contact. kit wonders if he actually knows how to kiss. 

eventually kit rolls her eyes slightly and grabs his hand, pulling him towards her until he's standing mere inches from her, their noses almost touching. their cheeks are red and rosy, half from the cold and half from embarrassment, but bertrand swallows nervously, summons his courage and closes the gap between them.

for a moment they’re perfectly still, lips connected but unmoving, hands clasped together in a cold interlocked grasp, staring at each other. bertrand’s breath is minty (slightly too minty in kit’s opinion) and their noses bump awkwardly. kit notes that next time she should plan out which way to tilt her head in order to avoid the nose clash. 

simultaneously, they both pull away and dissolve into peals of laughter, giggling like they did when they were small children. kit leans back against the wall and wipes her mouth against the back of her hand while bertrand shoves his cold hands into his jacket pocket, grinning sheepishly. 

“never again,” they agree together once they finish laughing, teeth chattering and breaths visible in the cold air. they slip back inside, walking arm in arm, teasing and ribbing each other lightly. true to their word, they never share another kiss, though bertrand likes to bring up the story to tease her with, especially when she starts dating olaf. kit pays him back though when he and beatrice start dating.


	2. philia - affectionate love

ii) philia 

the next time kit kisses someone she loves, she's fourteen, and she and beatrice have snuck out to watch a meteor shower at night. they curl up close together under a blanket (“to keep warm,” beatrice justifies, though kit didn’t care much about the explanation, she just enjoyed the heat radiating off her) while passing a half empty bottle of vodka back and forth between them, both trying not to wince at the stinging feeling in their throats. they had stolen it from an older volunteer, kit slipping into their room and swiping the bottle while beatrice distracted them. it was a classic manoeuvre that they had recently perfected; even if they had been caught, their chaperones would surely be unable to punish them due to the pure skill involved in the operation. 

by the time the meteor shower occurs they're both plenty tipsy and beatrice is teaching kit how to smoke a cigarette, so they almost miss it. kit abruptly drops the lighter and points up, a delighted smile spreading across her features as a sparkling light trails across the sky. beatrice looks up but her gaze doesn't reach the dark sky. instead she fixates only on kit, enchanted by the way her eyes are shining and her whole face is alight with enthusiasm. to beatrice, kit is more beautiful than a thousand meteors. 

soon the sky is dark and still again and kit's eyes return to the other girl who is still staring at her with a small smile on her lips - not the signature beatrice baudelaire smile that means everything and nothing all at once, but a real smile that melts kit to her centre. maybe it's the vodka, or the adrenaline of knowing that they should be in their beds, or maybe it's just the way beatrice is looking at her and she never has been able to resist beatrice, but suddenly kit is kissing her, and beatrice is kissing back. smoke clings to their clothes and alcohol to their breath. it's an impulsive act fuelled by drunken teenage bravado but it feels good, and kit knows that this is how kissing is meant to be.

the next day she doesn't remember everything as clearly as she'd like due to the hazy mist of alcohol blurring her recollection but she remembers vividly the taste of beatrice's lip gloss (it’s like the strawberry syrup that they drizzle on ice cream) and that smile; that goddamn smile that would come to cause them all a world of trouble one day.


End file.
